Saturday, March 25, 2006

Valparaiso ran into a tough Marquette squad on Saturday afternoon as the Crusaders were shutout by the Golden Eagles 7-0 in Milwaukee, Wis.

Valpo forced a pair of three set matches in singles play but were unable to register a win. Joe Venegas (Saint Charles, Ill./North H.S.) dropped a 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 decision at the second spot to Trent Hagan and Dave Bukowski (Mount Prospect, Ill./Prospect H.S.) fell 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to Stephen Shao at fifth singles in the tightest matches of the day.

Nic Kooyers (Holland, Mich./Holland H.S.) lost 6-2, 6-4 to Eigintas Vedrickas at the top of the order while Ian Kawas registered a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Mike Wagner (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer H.S.) at third singles. Mike Shideler (Valparaiso, Ind./Munster H.S.) fell 7-5, 6-2 to Brett Binkley at fourth singles and Alex Lau (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson Senior H.S.) dropped a 6-3, 6-2 match to Eric Flemming at the bottom of the order.

Marquette (10-6) began the contest sweeping all three doubles matches. Hagan and Binkley topped Kooyers and Shideler 8-4 at one while Vedrickas and Shao downed Wagner and Bukowski 8-2. Flemming and Pete Van Lieshout finished the sweep with an 8-4 win over Venegas and Lau.

Valparaiso (3-8) will return to action for the home opener on Friday afternoon as the Crusaders host Dayton. The match, which begins at 3 p.m., with be the first contest ever at the new Valparaiso University Tennis Complex.